Determining how university students and their families approach to herbal product use

The supplementary study which aims to determine the use of herbal products among university students and their families has been conducted with 855 participants. The questionnaire form has been applied to individuals through face-to-face meeting. More than a half of the participants are female (n=561, 65.5%) and single (52.0%). More than a half of the males (n=294, 56.5%) are university graduates. The average ages of males' and females' are 35.2±10.52 and 30.7±11.8 years, respectively. Females (63.5%) use more herbal products than males do (33.7%). Females' use of herbal products on the purpose of weight-loss (30.6%) is more than that of the males (15.1%) (p<0.05). More than a half of the males (57.6%) prefer herbal products in the case of common cold. Females' use of herbal products in the forms of tea and tablets (76.0% and 9.5%) is more than that of males (4.0% and 36.6%). Most of the participants (male: 75.8%, female: 86.6%) buy such products from herbalists. More than a half of them (male: 51.5%, female: 56.0%) state that they get the necessary information and usage method from their neighbours and relatives whereas one third of them (male: 39.4%, female: 26.7%) indicate that they use the products without doing any research beforehand. It has been detected that 19.2% of the males and 24.5% of the females use herbal products twice or three times a week and that 49.4% of the females use such products more than a year. 40.4% of the males and 37.0% of the females advise the herbal products they use themselves to others. A great majority of the participants (74.0%) do not mention their products to their doctors. In the logistic regression analysis; increased age, being a female and a university graduate were found to affect the use of herbal products. Top 5 dry herbs used in 95 products analyzed are black pepper (37.1%), cinnamon (30.1%), black sesame (28.4%), red pepper (24.5%) and thyme (23.8%). Carrot (34.0%), olive (33.2%), pomegranate (32.0%), parsley (27.9%) and walnut (24.0%) are mostly used as fresh herbs. Green tea (34.5%), linden (32.5%), rose hip (29.2%), bee balm (21.2%) and fennel (19.0%) are preferred as herbal teas.